Steve Ballmer: Sales of Our First Tablet in History Are “Modest”

The Microsoft CEO claims sales are going quite as expected

Steve Ballmer isn't quite satisfied with Surface sales

Although the cheapest version of the Surface was sold out in less than 24 hours after Microsoft officially kicked off the preorder campaign, company CEO Steve Ballmer says that sales of this tablet are “modest.”

Ballmer explained in an interview with French newspaper LeParisien that sales of the Surface tablet have not been very impressive until now, but he expects the Surface Pro version, the one running Windows 8, to appeal to many more buyers.

The man in charge with Microsoft’s business, however, refused to reveal sales statistics, so we still don’t know for sure how many tablets the Redmond-based company actually managed to sell.

All three versions of the Surface tablet are now in stock, but the most affordable version, the one sold for $499 (€380) and shipped without a Touch Cover, was sold out in less than 24 hours.

The other two models fared the same in about a week, but Microsoft moved quickly and reupdated stocks to make sure all those who want a Surface could get one as quick as possible.

Unfortunately, Microsoft’s first tablet in history comes with two critical problems, one that affects the software side of the device and another one hitting the hardware part.

First of all, plenty of users have reported that sound is unexpectedly muted whenever they use the Touch Cover and, although Microsoft is yet to release an official statement on this, company officials have hinted on the support forums that it’s all because of a software glitch expected to be fixed this week.

The second and the more painful issue concerns the keyboard. It appears that the Touch Cover splits at the end where it connects to the device, so Microsoft has no other solution than to replace all faulty keyboards. Owners of faulty Surface devices are strongly recommended to contact the nearest Microsoft Store.